"Woman of the Cloth"
Clarissa Hudson honors weavers of the past and wins Heard's Best of Show
by Suzette Brewer
Native People's Magazine, Phoenix, AZ
January/February 2002
Contact Clarissa for permission to use images or text for educational purposes only

It has been said artists have a certain call of the soul. To create that which is within them--with a paintbrush, a lump of clay, a piece of charcoal, molten glass or woven fibers--is not so much an avocation as it is an internal directive. Then there are those, like Clarissa Hudson, who are blessed to be talented in not one, but many different forms of art.

Hudson , whose repertoire includes everything from wood-carving, painting, beaded scultpure and printmaking to seriogrpahs, costume design and collages, is redefining what it means to be an artist and craftswoman.

But it was "Copper Woman," Hudson's tour de force woven Chilkat and Ravenstail dress design, that caught the eye of jurors at the Heard Museum 2001 Guild's Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix, Arizona, with which she swept the competition, winning best of division, best of classification, judge's choice and the prestigious best of show award.

Ten years in the making, Hudson took inspiration from the grass skirts of Hawaii, the capes of the Seminole, the dreadlocks of the Carribbean and the Ravenstail geometric design of the Chilkat robe form of her native Alaska to complete her five-piece work--which includes a robe, a dance apron, a capelet, a headdress and a bag. Comprised of wool, cedar bark, copper thread, copper cones, abalone shell and ermine skins, the spectacular design combines a variety of tribal cultures into a powerful homage to the work of women weavers throughout the history of the Americas.

"I finished each piece at different times, but I wasn't expecting to enter (the Heard competition) because I didn't know about it," says Hudson. "I just wanted people to see it; I had no idea it would win anything."

Using her background as a costume designer, her Scandivian, Tlingit, Filipino, Japanese and Jewish roots and influences fo rthe things she saw in her travels, Hudson brings her own contemporary touch to an ancient art form.

"I took our traditional forms but incoporated other aspects of who I am, icluding the spiritual and cultural," she says, "and like any artists, perhaps some traumatic thing I'm going through, and put it in my work."

Winning the Heard competition caps a long career in the arts that began when Hudson was a 15-year-old high schoool sophmore in Juneau, Alaska. Defying the traditons of the day, she took a woodshop class instead of home economics and made her first carved cedar box, a Northwest Coast design. her woodshop teacher, Peter Bibb, and her art teacher, Max Lewis, were the first to give Hudson encouragement in the pursuit of an artistic life.

"They both said, 'You know young lady, you could make a living at this," says Hudson, now 45. "They were my first intro to the whole Native culture and the first to open my eyes to a possible life as an artists--although I ignored what they said and became a clerk typist."

In the meantime, she married Bill Hudson, also an artist, had three children and started a landscaping business in Alaska. It wasn't until after the birth of her first child that Hudson continued her artisitic pursuits, beginining by creating objects for her family including clothing and painted objects around the house.

From there, Hudson went on to take up painting, photography, printmaking and costume design, to name just a few. along the way, she didn't really consider herself a "serious artists," but continued to learn whatever medium struck her fancy.

"It didn't really sink in for a lot of years," she says,"I was just experimenting and playing. It was a homegrown kind of thing."

A homegrown thing that turned her into a nationally-renowned artist.

"I look at my resume now," she says laughing, "and I realize that I was crazy! I was doing too much. But I'm not just an artist, I'm also a mother, and that is important to me."

Out of sheer fluke, Hudson took up the art of weaving after attending a baskeet weavig course in Haines, Alaska. "I would have done anything to go to Haines for a week," she says of the scenic town near Glacier Bay National Park. "I had no intention of being a weaver, I just wanted to go to my favorite town."

There she met the renowned Chilkat weaver Jennie Thlunaut, who chose Hudson as her apprentice. From Thlunaut, who has since passed on, Hudson learned the ancient craft of weaving tribal designs. Since then, Hudson has made some 40 ceremonial robes, four of which are woven and include "Copper Woman," which is now on display at the Stonington Gallery in Seattle.

"When a man, such as a chief, puts on a robe--which the making of is considered "woman's work,"--he is transformed," says Hudson. "It alleviates the mundane realities of the world and makes the person rise up. Copper Woman" is a salute to this so-called "women's work."

The piece quickly caught the attention of the Heard's jury during its Fair and Market last year. "People were just so taken with this beautiful piece," says Ann Marshall, the director of collections, education and interpretation for the Heard Museum. "Ms. Hudson built on the work of the past and added her own personal, contemporary spin."

"And for someone who had never heard of the Heard, so to speak, sweeping the competition probably seocnd only to the Santa Fe Market, in that you have to be juried and invited to get in," says marshall. "It's quite prestigious."

But for Hudson, who now resides in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, it was an honor simply to have people view the costume in its entirety for the first time. "My robes are medicine to myself," she says. "most of them end up with Native peole, but all of them are special in their own way."

These days, Hudson is excited about glassblowing, having attended the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle, Washington, in August 2001 under the tutelage of famed glass atist Preston Singletary and woodcarver/neon artist David Svenson.

"The first time I watched the glass form into the shape of a human face, I was just awed by its magic," says Hudson, "and I want to continue in glassblowing and learn as much as I can." To prepare herself, Hudson is working out daily to be able to handle her own rods and ladles--which can be quite cumbersome.

"Here is is 30 years later, and I'm discovering a new medium," says Hudson. "It's magic, and that's what draws me in."

Suzette Brewer (Cherokee) of Denver is the director of media relations for the American Indian College Fund.

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